


Of Malady And Mother

by Boldlynyooming (arka_r)



Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Gen, Kid Elnor, Medical Procedures, Pandemics, Quarantine, Romulans, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23277904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arka_r/pseuds/Boldlynyooming
Summary: There was an outbreak of Beluxian flu on Vashti, and Elnor was not allowed to go out.
Relationships: Elnor & Zani
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19
Collections: Lock Down Fest





	Of Malady And Mother

**Author's Note:**

> this work is unbetaed. i tried to proofread it several times, but there may something missing. please let me know if you want to beta it!

It was a week since Elnor was confined to his room at the house of the Qowat Milat. The nuns had forbidden him from going out, because there was an outbreak of Beluxian flu on Vashti.

The Beluxian flu came from the Beluxian traders who often came to Vashti. One of them carried the disease with them when they came to the colony. It quickly spread and infected the Romulans who lived on Vashti, especially children, the elderly, and the people with compromised immune system. Several people had died before people began to take preventive actions so that the disease wouldn’t spread even further.

As it turned out, Humans couldn’t get sick or become carrier of Beluxian flu, and their help was infinitely invaluable during the outbreak. Human doctors and nurses worked day and night to care for the Romulans, but quickly it became apparent that they were severely short-handed.

The nuns of the Qowat Milat had gone out to assist the Humans by offering medical care to the sick. They risked becoming ill or a carrier themselves, but that was the occupational hazard of being the nuns of the Qowat Milat.

Being a child of thirteen years of age, Elnor had been told to avoid contact with the nuns, so that he wouldn’t risk getting sick himself. Zani had installed an older type of a food replicator in the room to limit his contact with the other nuns. His education was being halted temporarily. In short, he was being quarantined.

It sucked, Elnor thought. Not being able to go out sucked. There was little to amuse himself while he was in quarantine. Sure, he had a lot of reading materials in his PADD, but reading all day was becoming to get so boring. He wanted to go out, and interact with people!

“Elnor?” Zani’s voice came through the door. Speaking about interaction with people, he wished he could talk to Zani without a door separating them. 

“Yeah?” Elnor replied.

“Have you eaten your lunch?” Zani asked.

“Not yet”, Elnor replied.

“Get yourself some lunch”, Zani told him. “The nuns and I are going to the southeast station. Will you be alright on your own?”

Elnor bit his lip, knowing that it didn’t matter either way. But still, he replied. “I’ll be fine.”

“Elnor, must I remind you that this is the house of truth?” Zani asked.

Elnor let out a sigh. Zani always knew when he lied, even without looking at him — it was kind of scary.

“How long do I have to stay in my room?” he asked back.

“We talked about this, my child. It’s only until the outbreak is gone”, Zani replied.

“And how long until the outbreak is gone?” Elnor asked. He knew he sounded whiny, but it was only the first week and he couldn’t take it anymore. It was just so boring!

“We are not sure, Elnor, but we are working with the medical team day and night to prevent further spread of the disease”, Zani answered. “If only the Star Empire or the Federation is here to help us—” Zani stopped himself and Elnor could hear her sigh. “Anyway, it could be weeks, or months.”

“I hope it won’t take months, then”, Elnor said.

Elnor could hear Zani chuckle. “Getting bored already, are you?”

“It’s just so boring!” Elnor whined. “At least you and the nuns can go out.”

“Patience, my child”, Zani said. “I must go now. Jolan tru.” 

Elnor heard her footsteps walking away from his room. With a sigh, Elnor slid down from his bed and replicated himself some meat rolls and a cup of kali-fal for lunch. 

It was going to be a long, long day.

—

The sun just went down a couple minutes ago, when Elnor heard a clang from somewhere in the house. He perked up at the noise. Had the nuns returned from the southeast station already?

But no, he couldn’t hear their voice — the nuns weren’t exactly silent when they were home, as they would chatter and gossip about their day. Whoever this person was outside Elnor’s room, they were alone and they were trying hard to silence their footsteps. 

Had someone broken into the house of the Qowat Milat? It wouldn’t be too far-fetched. The house of the Qowat Milat was well-stocked, especially during an emergency situation like now. Someone could break in and steal something, especially if they noticed that the nuns would be away for hours.

Well, Elnor couldn’t let that happen. The house of the Qowat Milat was his house, his home, and gods forbade anyone who tried to break into his home.

As silently as possible, Elnor opened the door of his bedroom and tiptoed out. He was weaponless, but Zani had taught him some moves to defend himself. Raising his knuckles, Elnor was ready to fight anyone who had broken into the house.

He found the ‘intruder’ in the middle room — she was wearing the Qowat Milat outfit, and Elnor recognized the way she moved.

“Zani?” Elnor called.

Zani jumped and turned around. That was when Elnor saw green blood dripping from her right arm.

“Elnor! What are you doing out of your bedroom?” Zani asked. She sounded worried.

“Forget about that! You’re bleeding!” Elnor cried out.

“Elnor, go to your room now!” Zani ordered. “You can get sick!”

“You need someone to help you, and that person might as well be me!” Elnor shot back.

Zani bit her lip and looked torn. Eventually, she sighed and sat down on the floor. Elnor quickly took the medical kit from the top of the cupboard and trotted back to Zani.

Tearing the already torn fabric of her right sleeve, Zani then tossed the fabric away, allowing Elnor to assess the damage to her right arm. It looked as if someone had slashed her badly.

“What happened?” Elnor asked as he took out the dermal regenerator and applied it to the gash on her right arm. It was located somewhere she would have difficulties applying the dermal regenerator by herself.

“Someone was trying to steal all of our medical supplies. I incapacitated him, but not before getting this wound”, Zani answered, hissing when her wound knitted together.

Elnor knew that when she said ‘incapacitate’, she meant ‘kill’. That was the outcome for trying to fight a _qalankhkai_ , especially for someone as experienced as her.

“Why would he want to steal it if you’re there to help?” Elnor asked.

“Sometimes, people do irrational things when things are scary, and a lot of people are scared now”, Zani answered. “Did you read the news?”

Elnor nodded. “Forty-seven children and fifty-three people above the age of seventy are dead because of the outbreak”, he said, turning off the dermal regenerator once he was done. “Am I going to be sick now?”

Zani’s lips quivered, before she answered, “Oh, my child. If you are going to be sick, then I regret to be the cause of it.”

“Well, I don’t regret it”, Elnor said, as honest as he could be. “You needed help.”

“Still, allow me this regret”, Zani said. “Now, go back to your room. I need to clean myself up first, but after that, I’ll watch over you.”

Elnor nodded and did as he was told.

—

Beluxian flu had fast incubation period and was easily spread — that was what made it scary. So it wasn’t a surprise that Elnor woke up feeling absolutely horrible just two days later.

His head felt so light it felt like he could float, and his throat and nose felt gross. Zani said his symptoms were rather mild, and Elnor couldn’t imagine something worse than what he was currently feeling.

Because the hospitals on Vashti were full, Zani decided to take care of Elnor herself at the house of the Qowat Milat. A Human doctor came and ran some tests on him, before declaring that Elnor needed to be quarantined. 

“What should we do to care for him?” Zani asked the Human doctor, Doctor Daniels from the Federation.

“Well, first of all, you need to make an isolation room”, the doctor answered. “I can give you a list of things that you will need. Do you know about the stages of Beluxian flu already?”

“Not in details, no”, Zani replied.

“The Beluxian flu has four stages, each stage normally will take two days before moving to the next”, Doctor Daniels said. “He’s gone through the first stage and now is in the second stage. The virus now resides in his lungs. The third stage, his immune system will try to fight the virus, so he will have a fever. He may repeat the second stage and the third stage once or twice. This is a dangerous phase; some people may be too weak to fight the repeated fever. But once he gets to the fourth stage, it will be smooth recovery.”

Zani looked grim, but there was determination in her eyes.

“He will be alright”, she said. “He has to.”

“He will. Let me know if anything happens, though”, Doctor Daniels returned, before turning to Elnor. “Goodbye, Elnor. Hope you get well soon.”

After helping Elnor have his breakfast, Zani and the nuns then transformed Elnor’s bedroom into an isolation room. Elnor was barely conscious throughout the whole thing. His medications were strong and they made him extremely sleepy that he could do nothing but sleep all the time. He only woke up to eat, take his antibiotics, and go to the bathroom. On the rare occasion where he was awake, he always found Zani sitting by his bedside, reading him prayers out loud.

If Elnor thought his quarantine before getting sick was bad, being sick absolutely _sucked_. His coughs were so bad that he felt like his lungs were going to give out. His sleep was always interrupted by these bout of coughs until Zani gave him another dosage of antitussive and expectorant. Then he would sleep again until another bout of coughs woke him up.

Then, on the second day after he was isolated, the fever hit.

If he still had some energy left, he probably would have cried because of how miserable he felt. He was so weak that he couldn’t even cough anymore. Zani had to carry him to the bathroom to give him cold bath to help with the fever, and Doctor Daniels came again to give him anti-inflammatory drugs and immune boosters.

More than one occasion, he saw his mother standing behind Zani, who was still praying for him non-stop. It didn’t make sense, Elnor thought. His mother had been dead for years before he even came to Vashti.

After two days, the fever went down on its own, just like Doctor Daniels said. 

Elnor cracked his eyes open. It was dark outside and a golden lamp lit the room dimly. He turned away from the window and saw Zani sleeping while sitting upright beside his bed. Clear lines of exhaustion made her face look older. Her hand clung to Elnor’s, and he weakly gripped her hand back.

She stirred and was immediately alert.

“My dearest child, how are you feeling?” she asked, her voice laced with worry.

“Tired”, Elnor croaked out. His throat still felt gross, but it didn’t seem like he was going to go back coughing his lungs out again. For now, at least. “And hungry.”

“Do you want something to eat?” Zani asked, immediately standing up. Elnor nodded, and she moved toward the food replicator in the room and replicated him hot vegetable soup.

Elnor reached for the bowl, but Zani gave him a Look that made him freeze on the spot. Then, she began to spoon feed him as if he was a baby. Elnor pouted, but had no choice but to allow her to pamper him. He was still feeling weak, after all.

The soup was delicious, although Elnor would say that homemade soup would be better. Once he was done eating, Zani helped him to go to the bathroom so he could have a bath and a change of clothing. Once that was done too, he felt better and more like himself.

“Go back to sleep, my child”, Zani said, before pressing a kiss to Elnor’s forehead and tucking him in.

“Will you be here when I wake up?” Elnor asked, his voice small.

“Of course, my dearest child”, Zani answered with such certainty that left no doubt.

“I’m sorry that you have to take care of me instead of doing your duties”, Elnor said.

“Nonsense”, Zani returned. “Caring for you while you are sick is also my duty.”

Elnor smiled at that. When he shut his eyes, Zani began to pray once again, and Elnor allowed her voice to lull him into a good night sleep.

—

Of course, the coughs returned when Elnor woke up.

It was almost noon outside the house of the Qowat Milat and Zani quickly checked on him. Elnor’s coughs abated slightly, but then he noticed something that had never been there before.

Blood. It was _his_ blood, specks of green spattering over the white bedcover. Elnor’s eyes widened and he turned to Zani, who was as shocked as he was. Her eyes turned at him and there was something in them that he couldn’t quite put his fingers on. Was it sadness? Was it worry?

“I’m sorry, my child. I need to call Doctor Daniels”, she said, before rushing out of the room.

While Zani was away, Elnor went back to staring at the blood spatter on his blanket as if they could reveal the secret of the universe. Perhaps it could. Perhaps it could explain the fear that was beginning to grow in his chest too.

Was this it? Was he going to die?

When Zani returned with Doctor Daniels, Elnor almost didn’t hear them come. Actually, it felt as if his spirit had detached from his body, and he felt disconnected to his surrounding.

“He’s gone into a shock”, he heard Doctor Daniels say, but it felt as if he was hearing him through a barrier. “Elnor, can you hear me? It’s going to be alright, kid.”

The detached feeling he felt slowly abated and he looked up to both the doctor and Zani, who were staring at him worriedly.

“Am I going to die, Doctor?” Elnor asked.

“No, my boy”, Doctor Daniels reassured him. “I promise you, I will do everything within my power to prevent that.”

“A promise is a prison”, Elnor recited. “And I will not be your jailer.”

“Well, think about me as a _qalankhkai_ who binds myself to your cause: your recovery”, Doctor Daniels told Elnor.

“A _qalankhkai_ only binds herself to a lost cause, though”, Elnor returned glumly.

“Sometimes, a _qalankhkai_ may choose to bind herself to an important cause, even though it’s not fully lost”, Zani told Elnor.

That reassured him, somewhat.

Doctor Daniels then popped the bag he carried with him open and took a portable scanner out of it. He took a picture of Elnor’s chest, before examining it. Elnor had another bout of coughs while he waited and Zani rushed to his side to gently pat his back. Luckily, he didn’t cough more blood, but still his chest ached.

“Just as I feared, his lungs are deteriorating”, Doctor Daniels said. “We may consider to move him to a hospital, where he will be able to receive better medical care. However…”

“The hospitals are still full”, Zani finished for the doctor.

“We just don’t have enough isolation wards. If only Starfleet could lend one or two of their hospital ships…” Doctor Daniels growled. “This outbreak is only getting worse. While it doesn’t affect us Humans, I’m worried about you Romulans. Have you heard anything from the Star Empire?”

“The Star Empire is in shambles right now after the Hobus Supernova, so no, we haven’t heard anything”, Zani answered. “It doesn’t matter. We will persevere, one way or another.”

“You Romulans are resilient, I’ll give you that”, Doctor Daniels said. “I’m going to prescribe stronger antibiotics for Elnor. Let me know if he has his second fever.”

“Thank you very much for your assistance”, Zani said.

After saying goodbye to both Zani and Elnor, Doctor Daniels left the house of the Qowat Milat.

— 

Elnor woke up one day and felt so much better, somehow. His chest had stopped aching and he had stopped coughing blood. Was he getting better already? Had the sickness gone already?

His room was empty, which was odd, because Zani had never left his bedside unless she really had to. The window on his room was open, which was also odd because the room was supposed to be isolated. Elnor couldn’t see what was outside the window, though. There was a bright light that prevented him from doing so.

Slowly, he slid down his bed and padded to the door. He opened it, and was confused when he found a white empty space that seemed to extend forever, instead of the wooden interior of the house of the Qowat Milat.

A woman stood not too far away, and Elnor recognized her immediately.

“Mom…?” he called.

She turned, and Elnor couldn’t quite see her face even when he tried so hard to focus on it. But Elnor could feel sadness coming from her — so strong and intense he felt like he was drowning on it.

“My son”, her voice rang and echoed. “You shouldn’t be here.”

And then she cried, tears falling from her eyes like waterfall. Her tears quickly filled the room, sweeping Elnor in waves that crashed over him, causing him to drown and drown and drown —

— and then he opened his eyes.

The first thing that his senses caught was the noise of someone crying by his side. Elnor turned, and saw Zani weep, her tears falling freely from her eyes. Doctor Daniels was there too, and he looked as if he just ran a marathon — his face red and sweaty and his normally perfect hair a mess.

Something was stuck on his face and Elnor groaned, uncomfortable. He tried to touch whatever it was on his face, and the movement seemed to pull Zani and Doctor Daniels’ attention toward him.

“Elnor!” Zani cried out and gripped his hand so tightly it hurt. She brought it to her face and pressed kisses to it.

“You gave us quite a scare there, kid”, Doctor Daniels said. “How are you feeling?”

Elnor tried to speak, but it felt as if his voice was refusing to work. He could only let out a weak groan, before shutting his eyes again.

When he opened his eyes again, Doctor Daniels was gone and it seemed like a few hours had passed, but Zani was still there as usual. Behind her, his mom stood, but her figure seemed to waver as if she was merely a smoke.

Only now Elnor realized what the thing that was stuck on his face — an oxygen mask. It seemed that someone had put it on while he was asleep before.

“Elnor”, Zani called, and Elnor turned his attention to her. Her eyes were wet, and she was still gripping his hand like it was a lifeline. “So good to see you awake, my dearest child.”

Elnor tried to speak again, but it felt like his throat was so dry. Zani seemed to understand, though, and she went to replicate him a glass of water. Carefully, she took off his oxygen mask and helped him drink from a straw.

“It’s good to be awake”, Elnor told Zani once he was done drinking. Zani let out a wet laugh.

“And it’s good to hear your voice again, my child”, she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Why are you crying?” Elnor asked.

“I’m crying because I’m happy”, Zani answered.

“I don’t understand”, Elnor told her. “I thought you only cry when you’re sad.”

“I’m feeling a lot of emotions right now and they make me cry. But it is happiness that I feel most prominently”, Zani said.

Elnor still couldn’t understand, but he was glad he was awake. And he felt so much better too. It felt like his coughs and his fever had gone away.

“Zani”, Elnor called out. “I— I saw my mom.”

Zani took a deep breath, frowning. There was something in her eyes that Elnor couldn’t quite understand.

“I mean, it doesn’t make sense. She died”, Elnor continued. “She died, so she can’t be here… right?”

“Sometimes those who have passed still leave an echo behind”, Zani said as she gently cupped Elnor’s cheek. “Elnor, I… didn’t want to tell you this but we… almost lost you.”

“Oh”, Elnor didn’t know how to respond to that.

“If your mother showed herself to you, she must’ve done something to give you back to us”, Zani said, rubbing her thumb on his cheek. “Like a mother should.”

“She said I shouldn’t be there”, Elnor told Zani. “Wherever ‘there’ is. And then she cried, and her tears made a flood. And then I woke up.”

“I see”, Zani said, as if what Elnor just told her made perfect sense.

“I miss her, sometimes”, Elnor admitted, and something in his stomach ached just a little bit. “But I’m glad I have you now.”

Zani’s tears fell again, but she smiled so wide and so bright.

“I am glad that I have you too”, she returned.

—

Two weeks after Elnor recovered, the Beluxian flu outbreak on Vashti had only gotten worse. Several hundred people had died and tens of thousands had been infected. The hospitals could no longer handle the sick, so most of them had to be quarantined at home just like Elnor did.

Because he had contracted the virus before, Elnor was now immune to Beluxian flu. He no longer had to be quarantined in his room, so Zani had employed him to help replicating medical supplies for the Qowat Milat to share with the community. There were so many people to help, and the Qowat Milat was spread so thin trying to help everyone.

That was when help arrived, in the form of USS Pasteur — a hospital ship commanded by Captain Beverly Crusher. Crewed by an all Human crew, it was just exactly what they needed. On the first day they arrived, they had beamed up twenty thousand of sick people on board and provided medical supplies for those who needed it.

The Pasteur was outfitted with advanced medical technology that the refugees on Vashti did not have. With the of Romulan scientists and Starfleet medics working together, they managed to invent a vaccine for those who hadn’t been infected.

Suddenly, people were filled with hope, and hope was a powerful thing — that was what Zani said. The outbreak would be gone in no time, and everything would return to normal.

— 

It was a month since the outbreak had gone and Vashti was once again bustling. Elnor weaved his way around the stalls on the market, before swiping a bread from the baker’s stall.

“Come back here, sisterboy!” the baker shouted in anger.

“Make me, old man!” Elnor shouted back, before dashing toward the house of the Qowat Milat. He bumped right into Zani, who was about to head out.

“What did I say about stealing?” Zani asked, lifting her eyebrow at him.

“Only do it when you’re sure you won’t be caught”, Elnor answered cheekily.

“That is not what I said at all”, Zani made a tsk-ing noise, and snatched the bread from Elnor’s hand. “Guard the house, will you?”

“You’re heading out?” Elnor asked. “Can I come with you?”

“I said, guard the house”, Zani not quite replied and gave his hair a thorough ruffling, before she turned and began to walk away from the house. “Consider it a punishment for stealing the bread.”

Elnor rolled his eyes.

“I see that”, Zani said.

Elnor grinned. “Bring me something back!”

Zani raised her hand instead of answering, and soon she disappeared in the crowded street.

Elnor took off his shoes and padded into the house, greeting every nun he passed by. After washing his hands, he headed toward the kitchen and grabbed an osol twist from a plate. He took a bite while heading toward his room.

He thought he saw a blurry shape standing by the window, of a person that looked eerily like his mother. It was gone when he blinked, and Elnor remembered what Zani had said about how people who had passed away left behind an echo. Elnor shrugged, before finishing his osol twist and began his study for the day.


End file.
